In the First exam the writing consists of two parts. Here we look at Part 1, the compulsory essay.

Strategy
a – Read the task carefully and underline the keywords.
Ex. Write an opinion essay based on the statement – Experiments that cause suffering to animals can never be justified.

b – Make a note of the register you need to use – typically it will be semi-formal or neutral.

c – Write a short list of grammatical structures you should use.
Ex. passive, impersonal passive for general beliefs, perf. tenses for past, pres. simple for your opinion.

d – Write a short vocabulary list, try to include abstract nouns, fixed phrases and collocations.
Ex. experimentation, advances in medical research, human/clinical trials, medicine, play God.

e – Group ideas into 4 logical paragraphs. [see structure below]

f – Write an appropriate title. Rephrase the words in the task, use a question to engage the reader.
Ex. Is it ever justifiable to inflict suffering on animals for human benefit?

g – Begin your writing and remember to check that you are using the grammatical structures and vocabulary you made a note of earlier.

h – Read through your work and correct any errors with grammar, spelling and punctuation. Check verb patterns/dependent prepositions.
Ex. depends + on, look + into, appears + to

i – Ask yourself….
Do your ideas flow logically?
Have you answered the task and not gone off topic?

Structure
Para 1. Introduction with brief background.
General beliefs in past and in present about experimentation – in brief.

Para 2. Arguments for.
Advances in medical research and human health.

Para 3. Arguments against.
Animal welfare, animal rights, cruelty.

Para 4. Summary + your opinion
Use fixed phrases to summarise both for & against and state your opinion.

Language suggestions
Use strong adjectives for your opinions.
Ex. intolerable, inhuman, unjustifiable, wholly justifiable, perfectly acceptable

Use correct collocations,
Ex. conduct + experiments, research + findings, cause + suffering

You can easily check on Google
In Search enter > research + collocations – easy!

Examples of basic collocations
Advantage / Benefit (+) or Disadvantage / Drawback (-)
main / most obvious / key / the biggest / the greatest / the most important / the least important (dis)advantage of animal experimentation is…

another / a further / an additional / one more (dis)advantage of animal experimentation is…